Hard at work in the studio in Stockholm. Norum is laying down some great guitars using both Les Paul and Strat for the rhythm guitars. Joey's working on lyrics. When asked what the songs are about he just replies "defiance, politics and sex.....not particular in that order".

In between Norum's guitar overdubs both Mic and Leven records some of their magic. Leven has put down some fret-less bass. Mic some pads and and Nord klav. We're also preparing a score for a strings orchestra we're gonna record on a few tracks in Prag.

Ian just came in to visit us in the studio. Straight from doing his radio show. As you know the drums are already done and fabulous. We're working here in Stockholm until Sunday. Then we start up again on the 5th of Jan. in Gothenburg with vocals, keyboards and more guitars.

There will however be lyric work and other preparations over the holidays. But we'll try and get a few days of over Christmas.

mery.No gig on New Years Eve this time. 2009 we will start recording again on the 5th of January in Gothenburg when we will concentrate on vocals and keyboards/organ.

StefanieWe will do our best to get a tour going in the US 2009. After this album anything is possible

MarcinoWe did play "Danger" a few times this summer. We'll see, maybe we'll try some different ones next year. But we're really exited to play some new "killers" 2009.......Yes we have met the guys in Scorpions a few times. Mainly "Rudy" but also the rest of the guys.We have listened to them quite a lot over the years. A few of our favourite albums are. Love Drive, Tokyo Tapes, Virgin Killer.

MelaniOne regret we have is that we never toured Australia. We hope we can put this right this time. We have heard of a series of festivals called "big day out" or something like that. We have absolutely no booking made for this but maybe something to look into.

Mic MacovicIt's a PRS SC-250 . with Sheptone picups.

THRILLHONo special guests at this time.......

JimmyZ We will document Sweden Rock somehow. Don't know how yet. We're looking forward to that gig very much.......We were set to record both Dalhalla shows but the deal fell through in the last minute. Nalen show will come out 2009.

We're back in the studio. This time in Stockholm and John is tearing the house down with greatest guitar sound we've ever heard......We got one song down at the end of the first day. The one with the working title "ready".

Friday, 12 December 2008

This picture is to visualize the new direction Europe are going for with the forthcoming album... NOT!Anyways, our first 5 days in the studio have come to an end and drums and bass are recorded for all the songs. Job well done Ian and John L.!We're looking forward to a couple of days off now and will get back to you next week with info on how the work is proceeding.

An old friend of ours (as well as singer/guitar player of one of the word's biggest rock bands) desperately wanted to come and visit us in the studio. In order NOT to be recognized by the locals he put some make-up on and tried to dress casual.For some unknown reason he was very anxious to show his private parts in the picture taken here. Fortunately our fast-handed guitarist saved the situation.John later said:"This was the easiest cover I've eve done"

Thursday, 11 December 2008

Ian's left Gothenburg and it's now up to Mr Leven to deliver his goods. Tobias has created a fantastic bass sound for John and his Sandberg basses.Just for your info, before Tobias became a producer he was working for the FBI. (By the look of things it seems he's not gotten away from dealing with suspicious characters.)

Eerie! Looks like John Leven and blog reader "alex" were separated at birth... they seem to be connected telepathically! Alex guessed correctly the number written on John's paper, and in doing so has won Ian's well-worn autographed drum head and signature drumsticks. Good work man!Be sure to add your email to your blog profile page alex, so you can be contacted about claiming your prize.

There were some very creative answers along the way and we thought one of them in particular deserved some special recognition. But unfortunately that winner has deleted their post. As a result, we've decided to award a consolation prize to "MIM" who was the first member who came in just one number shy at 6111. Nothing worse than being just one number off. MIM has also won a set of Ian's signature drumsticks, used during the recording of the album. MIM, we need to see your email address too.Good work everyone!

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

@ mic's girl - im planning on using my old Hammond B3 a bit more on this album. It seems to really fit the vibe and direction were going.

@ Jenny - were not trying to overthink anything this time.. just following our hearts and souls and using our experience together with a great young producer.

@ mari - we're planning a release around april/may, in time for summer festivals (eg: sweden rock), so in a perfect world we will be mixing the album end of february.

@ tone irene - together with our manager we will find great partners to work with on this project, but we all do have a special feeling with this particular album. As for the fans, we love it when youre active spreading the news of the release by word of mouth, online, banners and so on. The internet is very powerful these days, so you can actually be a part of the whole thing.

@ ravscool - with "almost unplugged" this is the first time weve released a vinyl in a long time, so we will learn from the process, however we do still like this format. Its not impossible.

@ olga maria - I think all artists toys with the idea of making conceptual albums, like Pink Floyd for example... for us, as a touring rock band, we channel all our ideas into a selection of songs, which is more practical for us. We like to think there is always a thread both musically and lyrically on every Europe album.

@ Marian - hopefully we will make a new DVD on the forthcoming tour. Time will tell.

@ Bojana - the working title for the song in the video was "I Break Down" - the song originated from a John Norum riff.

@ Daniela - its a pretty straight forward rock album... however there are 1 or 2 more quiet moments.... we wouldnt call it "acoustic" though.

@ RnRCroatia - The way we approach and record this album is more related to "Wings of Tomorrow". There are many similarities to our other albums, but we also have a new fresh approach working with our young producer. Perhaps with some more keyboards.

@ katefromrussia - Yes, John Norum had a "waxident"... maybe he'll tell you more about this one of these days.

Its been a long day in the studio today, so for some light relief, we're inviting you to WIN a pair of pre-loved drumsticks and a snare drum head signed by Ian Haugland, used during the recording of the new album.

HOW TO WIN:

John Leven is thinking of a number in his head between 5814 and 6402 (naturally). He's written it on this piece of paper for safe keeping, so the person who guesses the correct number first (or closest to it without going over) by 8am CET tomorrow morning (Thursday) will win!

One entry each... so make it count. We wanna hear some noise!

For purposes of identification, the winner will have to supply a valid email address. For those signed in with blogger profiles, please ensure you have a public email account included with your profile so we can contact you if you're a winner.

Our manager, Petri Lunden has stopped by the studio to listen through some songs with us. He's (quote/unquote) "amazed" with the songs so far, particularly after just 2 days recording. If he could, he'd have this album released tomorrow. This is encouraging.When asked if he has any comment for you, the readers; in his typical businesslike fashion, Petri cheekily advises: "spend more money".

We're very pleased with the drums so far... comin' up, John L will open his bag of tricks and we'll put down some more of his groovin' bass tracks which will give us a powerful rhythm section. Can you handle it?

Its day 3 and we're gearing up again. Ian has finished the drum tracks, and today we're gonna go through and review some of the material we've recorded so far. This album is shaping up to be a killer!More to follow in a short while...

This time, we're taking some new directions with our songs, and we're exploring different styles. There is a definite classic rock vibe on some of the tracks... a tip of the hat to groovin', funkin' 70s rock songs - but ones we have bought into the here and now. We've also got a couple of great ballads in the pipeline, and some thundering rock tracks that will knock you on your asses! :-)

We've taken all the best qualities from our modern recordings, and catapulted them to a whole new level. We hope you'll enjoy them.

We know you've probably a ton of questions you'd like to ask us... so we're inviting you to post your questions in the comments section here.Sometime (probably this evening) we will get around to answering a few of them. Go crazy people!

We're back in the studio this morning, fueled by caffeine and adrenaline. There was some great progress made yesterday and today we're keen to keep the pace. Stay tuned for additional updates through the day./Europe

Monday, 8 December 2008

Hello everyone. We're now back in the hotel bar after a long day in the studio. This week we are concentrating on drums. So it's all about Ian and he's been rocking out like a king. We've managed to put down 6 tracks today which is more than we expected.We've been filming some stuff as well which we will hopefully put on later tonight. Tomorrow we'll post some more material for you guys.Keep checking for updates.Talk soon.....Joey